A Brief Bio

Kanniks Kannikeswaran (www.kanniks.com) is a visionary composer and music educator and scholar whose work has been performed in and has had an impact in several parts of the world. Cincinnati based musician Kanniks is a prolific composer and his compositions include a wide range of genres such as oratorios, kritis, tillanas, dhrupads, musical theater productions and more.

Kanniks is the pioneer of the Indian American choral movement. His far reaching work in this area has led to the founding of Indian community choirs in several places such as Allentown PA, Tampa FL, Houston TX, Minneapolis MN and more. Kanniks has singlehandedly traveled to these places and built musical productions channeling the local energy, resulting in local community choirs and long lasting collaborations.

His magnum opus ‘Shanti – A Journey of Peace’ has been performed with a huge cast in Cincinnati OH, Allentown PA and Houston TX even as other communities are gearing towards future performances. Shanti has touched, moved and inspired over 900 performers in 5 seasons and has been seen by over 9000.

Kanniks has collaborated with artists such as Lakshmi Shankar, Mallika Sarabhai, with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra to name a few and his work has been performed by large ensembles at the National University of Singapore.

Kanniks has been teaching at the University of Cincinnati in the capacity of an Adjunct Faculty since 1994. . Kanniks regularly presents his scholarly work at the Madras Music Academy and other venues during the music season.His award winning research on the 18th century Indo Colonial music of India is beginning to have an impact on Indian musical pedagogy.

Kanniks is a recipient of various awards such as the prestigious McKnight Fellowship (Visiting Composer Residency – Minnesota) , the Ohio Heritage Fellowship from the State of Ohio, and the Just Community Award from the University of Cincinnati.

Kanniks is often described as a renaissance personality who effortlessly traverses diverse disciplines such as music, spirituality and management. His work is much sought after worldwide and he has delivered lectures on Indian music and culture in Singapore, Trinidad, and in several cities in the United States.

Kanniks is on the music advisory committee of the ‘World Choir Games’ 2012 to be held in Cincinnati OH. He is the founder of the ‘American School of Indian Art’, an Institution committed to bringing the best of the East and the West to the Indian American diaspora and beyond.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kanniks/111937162183490
Music Blog: http://chennaionline.com/Columns/Mostly-Music/
Shanti Choir: http://www.shantichoir.org
Templenet: http://www.templenet.com